Look, seriously, as long as you don't blow it in my face and your habit doesn't affect my insurance rates or taxes, we're cool.

Lot of smokers out there who go on about freedom and personal choice, then go all "spare no expense" when their health is shiat and they get Medicare.Lot of poor people out there who get the public to pay for their food, and use the money they would have used for food to buy smokes.

Look, you may be one of those highly-educated smokers, but demographics don't lie. If you smoke, you're more likely to be uneducated and poor. Maybe it's your happy place. Maybe you think it's your happy place. I can think of a handful of heavy smokers who lived to be 98 and relatively healthy; the rest were like my father-in-law, who looked and acted like he was in his 90s when he died at 65 of complications due to congestive heart failure and emphesyma. Something nearly all his siblings, his parents, and hell, something I watched my grandpa die of.

I probably shouldn't talk because obesity is something I've struggled with, but you know what? When I got told that I had to lose weight and cut the caffeine because of high cholesterol and HBP, I didn't blame the government, anti-fun zealots, or just sigh and expect taxpayers or insurance to pay for expensive surgery for me to lose weight without effort. I manned up and cut the caffeine and food. If I can give up a heavy coffee habit cold-turkey, you can give up your smokes. And instead of being mad at the government for taxing your smokes, you get to pocket that money.

Dadgum, I was going to mention in there: when I say my father-in-law was dying of congestive heart failure, he spent about 20 years getting care & medication from the VA, and mostly taking a "fark you" attitude when the doctors told him to stop smoking, start getting more exercise, and that eating a vegetable on occasion wouldn't kill him. At the end it was a combination of the VA and Medicare that paid for his final care.

I was at Victory in 04. (back when Liberty was North Victory). There was two shootings of note (that I know of). One idiot soldier, getting ready to go out on convoy, put a MK19 grenade though the side of a living trailer, but luckily no one had moved in yet. Another idiot soldier managed to squeeze off 9 or so rounds from his M-249 in his trailer toward my NCOIC's trailer, but luckily in that case, there was a concrete barrier between the two. Many people where unhappy with that kid.Sergeant Major:Did you go on convoy yesterday?Kid: No.SM: Did you go on convoy today?Kid: No.SM: Then, WHY IN THE FARK, was your weapon even loaded?Kid: I dunno.SM: And please tell me why you held the trigger down long enough to fire 9 rounds?Kid: I dunno.SM, to kid's roomate: Why is your roomate such a Goddamn idiot?Roomate: I dunno.SM: Alright soldier, come with me. We're gonna have a little chat.

Pangea:I'm admittedly underinformed, but doesn't six rows of bars and 2 medals seem like an awful lot for a sergeant?

Is the military decorating soldiers more than in the past, in an effort to make them feel more special?

Thanks to several different aspects to our conflicts in the middle east, a couple deployments can get you a fat stack of fruit salad. This gentleman also looks lie he's been in for more than a few years, and just never moved past Sgt to Staff Sgt. So with a lot of time in, a couple different deployments and a decent disciplinary record (except for you know, blowing away 4 of his comrades) I think it's easy to get a decent amount of ribbons and decorations. Maybe he blew these guys away because he was pissed that he kept getting passed over for E-6 (Staff Sgt.)

Pangea:I'm admittedly underinformed, but doesn't six rows of bars and 2 medals seem like an awful lot for a sergeant?

Is the military decorating soldiers more than in the past, in an effort to make them feel more special?

Yeah, but the highest medal he has is an Army Commendation medal. Looks like he earned a few. They are the "pass go, collect $200" medal for most deployments. Some Army acheivement medals which are atta-boys. I Have 2 of one, 3 of the other somewhere. The rest are basically been there, done that medals. Looks like aside from Iraq/Afghanistan, he served in Bosnia/Kosovo or something in that area(AEM, NATO, UN medals) The rest are Good conduct, NCO professional development, Overseas Service medal, Korean Service medal, National Defense Service medal, Army Service Ribbon.TL:DR...nothing spectacular, just a guy that's been in a while.